Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

U.S. First Lady

Born: 28 July 1929

Died: 19 May 1994 (cancer)

Birthplace: Southhampton, New York

Best known as:

Wife of president John F. Kennedy

Name at birth: Jacqueline Lee Bouvier

The wife and then widow of U.S. president John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis remains an American icon of high style and grace. She was 24 when she married Kennedy, then a U.S. senator from Massachusetts, in 1953. Kennedy was elected president in 1960 and "Jackie" became a popular First Lady, known for her elegant sophistication and her historical interest in the White House. She was made a widow when Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963. Five years later, in 1968, she married wealthy Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis. Onassis died in 1975; Jacqueline settled in Manhattan and began working as an editor for Doubleday, a job she continued until her death in 1994. She was buried next to Kennedy in Arlington National Cemetery.

Extra credit:

Jackie Kennedy was only 31 years old when she became First Lady... She attended Vassar and the Sorbonne but received her degree from George Washington University... She and John Kennedy had two children, Caroline (b. 1957) and John Jr. (b. 1960); a third child, Patrick, was born on 7 August 1963, but died two days later. Patrick remains the most recent child to be born to a First Lady while her husband was president. John, Jr. died in a private plane crash in 1999... After her marriage to Onassis she was nicknamed "Jackie O" by the tabloid press.